Lord Adam Patel draws flak for praising Narendra Modi

, March 13: Lord Adam Patel of Blackburn has earned criticism from social and political activists for backing

Chief Minister

in the recent controversy over the cancellation of the latter's scheduled speech at the Wharton business forum in the USA later this month.

Educationist and human rights activist J S Bandukwala said it was unfortunate to see how some rich Gujarat Muslims were endorsing Modi for personal benefits and forgetting how much harm they were inflicting on the victims of the 2002 riots.

He accused Lord Patel of trying to help his brother Mohammed Fansiwala in Bharuch by favouring Modi. Bandukwala alleged that Fansiwala was not getting permission to make private medical college functional although he has set up all infrastructure for the project.

Gujarat state Congress general secretary Khurshid Saiyed salso took a dig at Patel, saying the latter had left India for the UK in 1964 and was not aware of the ground realities in Gujarat. The Congress leader said Patel was misled by media propaganda which has been launched by the Gujarat CM by means of muscle power.

All India Milli Council (AIMC) member Munir Khairuwala said Patel did not suffer any loss in 2002 and that was the reason for he was speaking in favour of Modi. The AIMC man said Patel's statements in favour of Modi would hurt the sentiments of the 2002 riots victims, adding that Modi did not show any interest in implementing the centrally sponsored post-matric scholarship for minority students and instead challenged the matter in the court.

Patel had written a letter to Modi on Tuesday in which he vehemently critiicised Wharton's decision to cancel the Gujarat CM's keynote address to students through video-conferencing. A number of Indian speakers and sponsors also withdrew from the programme scheduled for March 23 in the wake of the development.

Patel was on the forefront of organising protests in the UK against the 2002 communal riots but he slammed the cancellation of Modi's speech as a violation of free speech. He also showered praises on Modi for winning the assembly elections for the third consecutive time last year.

OneIndia News